ABSTRACT
Cancer development is a complex, multistage process in which failure of cell differentiation and proliferation control, for example after activation of oncogenes, is considered to be an important causative factor. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of cell death in cancer development, probably because cell death often is regarded to be a passive degenerative phenomenon of secondary importance for the control of cell number in a given tissue. Apoptosis, which is considered to be a process of active cellular self-destruction. The “suicide” character of apoptosis is stressed by the requirement of gene transcription and protein synthesis in the affected cell for the initiation of its own death. Furthermore, certain hormones, drugs, or environmental pollutants may interfere with mechanisms controlling apoptosis and thereby contribute to the imbalance in growth of cancer prestages and neoplasia.
